Rush: Obama's 'obsessive-compulsive'

Rush Limbaugh joined the conservative uproar over Barack Obama’s saying “the private sector is doing fine” by calling the president “out of touch” and “obsessive-compulsive.”

“Now, not even Obama can believe that, and does he really expect us to buy it?” Limbaugh said Friday on his radio show, according to a transcript of his show. “How out of touch do you have to be, when the real unemployment rate is over 11%, to say the private sector is doing just fine? The private sector is doing just fine. Now, maybe he’s not senile, but he certainly is obsessive-compulsive.”

Story Continued Below

In a press conference about the economy earlier in the day, Obama had told reporters at the White House, “The truth of the matter is that, as I said, we’ve created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone. The private sector is doing fine” — remarks that Republicans quickly pounced on, accusing the president of failing to grasp the dismal state of the economy.

The conservative radio host went on to accuse Obama of wanting more people to be unemployed and dependent on the government.

“Maybe the private sector doing just fine is a lot of people not working but eating, with their cell phones on and their TVs on, and depending on government for all of that,” he said. “Maybe that’s what he means by the private sector is doing just fine. He wants more people to be made dependent on government so they’ll vote Democrat.”

The president later on Friday clarified that it’s “absolutely clear” that the economy is not fine.